


The Black Widow

by The_Knight_of_Roses



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:27:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24527611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Knight_of_Roses/pseuds/The_Knight_of_Roses
Summary: The story of The Black Widow, a pearl who takes revenge on all gems who would seek to take advantage of pearlkind
Kudos: 7





	1. The Beginning

Chapter 1

“ _Welcome to your new Pearl!”_

The last note escapes her lips as she first gets a glimpse of the gem that she would now serve. She feels the icy cold stare of the agate, who did not seem too impressed with the Pearls song, and not much else. 

“Now that you’ve finished…” the agate dismissively waves her hand “...that, we have much work to do pearl, come along, I’ll decide your form when I’ve finished my job”

As the agate walks forward, not looking back for even a second as her pearl follows behind her, trying to keep up the pace. The agate, clearly in a hurry, is leaps and bounds ahead of the smaller gem, timidly walking behind her, taking in all of the surroundings that were foreign to her eyes. The blinding white of the room made it impossible for the pearl to make out shapes in the background, her eyes just getting used to the settings of a place that was as unlike The Reef as a room could be. As she remembers the place where all pearls were made, she stops, the realization slamming into her like an errant quartz soldier, that she would never again hear the soft songs of pearls waiting to be assigned.

“ _Now_ Pearl!!” the larger gem a few feet away shouted back into the empty room, a resigned fury in her voice “we don’t have forever, White Diamond is anxiously waiting for our arrival, those damned rebels have defeated _another_ of my armies and I don’t wish to be shattered because some _careless_ Pearl decided to go sightseeing!!”

“Ah! Sorry, m-my agate, i-it won’t happen again.” She stuttered as she picked up the pace to meet her agate where she was, but her pathing was immediately stopped by a fist in the stomach. As the smaller gem fell to the ground in pain. The larger gem in front of her, not even sparing a backward glance. 

“I should _hope_ not” the agate said, all too casually, as she continued forward on her path. The pearl quickly stumbled to her feet and walked forward, her arm cradling her sore stomach.

As the two gems proceeded along their path they were greeted by a pearl, but the sight of this particular pearl made The Pearl feel terrified, as the grey gem’s face seemed to be twisted into a big smile. The grey pearl’s right eye was open, yet it looked, vacant, as if the gem wasn’t present in her own mind. Looking where the grey pearl’s left eye was supposed to be shook The Pearl to her very gem, a large cracked area covered almost the entire left side of her face. As the grey pearl moved, it floated above the ground as if moving automatically forward. As this gem moved closer, her facial expressions did not change a bit, as a grey bubble encircled the three gems and passed through the ceiling of the building and floated to the giant head across the way. However, The Pearl was too busy staring at the large crack to notice. As they landed inside the head, The Pearl looked up to see the smiling face of White Diamond, unmoving. Then White’s, as well as Pearl’s mouths, moved in perfect unison, “Ah Onyx Agate, I trust you received your new Pearl well?” as the Diamond spoke, The Pearl was stuck in a state of pure terror, staring motionless next to her Agate. The trance was quickly broken when an elbow embedded itself in her chest. Onyx Agate whispered angrily “salute you insufferable pearl!” The Pearl quickly looked over at her Agate and mimicked the signal that the agate made with her hands. White Diamond and Onyx continued to converse, but The Pearl stared at the smaller gem in front of the Diamond with fearful worry. Is this how she would end up too?

As the years went on, the image of that pearl was stuck in The Pearl’s mind, whenever she closed her eyes, she could see White’s pearl being moved about like a ragdoll, and with every lash she received she would check religiously for cracks, hoping, _praying_ that the process was not beginning. 

After this incident, The Pearl was molded into a lifeless, colorless doll. Her hair set into a tight bun and she wore a poofy white dress, all according to the will of her Agate. Whenever she looked at herself, she felt visceral disgust at how she looked, almost blending into the walls behind her, that was the point, she assumed. She was never given a proper name, when spoken about if ever, she was always referred to as “The Pearl” or “that Pearl” or even “You.” She had no idea who she was but that. The years flew by as if they were days, her agate, as the war raged on, grew angrier and angrier, more and more impatient, and more and more violent. Decades upon decades passed by, with failures piling up. Onyx Agate became known as a laughing stock among the other gems of White Diamond’s court, and oh stars did they laugh, it was common enough to see another agate, or hessonite run near Onyx and yell “Look! Look! It’s Rose Quartz!!” and at the slightest acknowledgment begin bursting into laughter, mocking the gem for “being afraid of a little quartz, what kind of agate lets herself be bullied by a quartz!” accompanied by more laughter. 

Higher ranked gems spent a lot of time together, whether it was setting battle strategy, or gushing over White Diamond’s “radiance,” even talking trash about other courts, when they thought nobody could hear them. The oft-ignored Pearl heard it all, it was not hard to tell that the Pyrope was the most respected of the group. Onyx had complained about her to the air more times than the pearl could count, as well as to other higher-ups. But never to the orange gem’s face, no, Onyx knew better than that. The Pearl had trouble figuring out what was so infuriating to Onyx about Pyrope, as the orange gem was not in charge of any military proceedings, for the most part, the two never spoke a word to each other. And so it went as the days went on. 

Onyx liked to vent her frustrations in her quarters, and often _at_ her pearl. It did not take much for Onyx to become angry, whether it be that the pearl had “looked at her funny” or “responded with ‘a lack of respect’” or even “didn’t respond at all.” The Pearl was quite different than most pearls, she could take more lashes from Onyx’s electricity charged whip without poofing, which in her case was a curse. The pain was worse some days than others, with no hope of escape. But after a few decades of this, the Pearl had learned to will herself to dissipate her form when Onyx was unhappy, but that didn’t help all that much, as Onyx took Pearl everywhere, and no one looked when she would take out her anger on the Pearl, it was up to Onyx to treat her as she saw fit. The Pearl was filled with unquenchable anger, but what could she do, a pearl against such a strong agate like Onyx.

There were many days that The Pearl had time to herself, she really cherished those moments, because she was not being dragged about the place, or hurt by Onyx. However, these moments were few and far between. Onyx had told her many times “I have no need for a pearl, but it is a sign of my diamond’s favor with me, not even Pyrope has a pearl of her own!” The Pearl’s existence was that of a gotcha against her agate’s “rival,” Onyx had told her many times that if she gave her even the tiniest reason to do so, she would shatter her and get a new one. And with every lash of her whip, The Pearl knew that she was not joking. 

“Come Pearl, we need to take a trip”

Onyx snapped her fingers, the snapping of Onyx’s fingers instilled panic in the Pearl, as failure to meet the gem in a timely manner would result in many lashings with her whip. Her stomach turned just thinking about what would happen, and so the Pearl rushed to meet her in front of the hangars. The Pearl had never seen this part of the area before as Onyx usually commanded her troops from her quarters, this must have been serious, if Onyx was needed in person. Two Citrines stood in front of the black and white vessel stationed in the middle of the hangar, the Citrines began to march in separate directions as Onyx approached them, she stretched out her hand and the marble black and white gem on her hand began to glow, and so did a diamond-shaped carving in the back of the ship.

After a few seconds a ramp lowered itself from the back of the ship, the agate marched dutifully into the cockpit, and the pearl followed her. 

The journey took several days, but as the black and white ship approached the colony of the deceased Pink Diamond, which she called Earth. This was the site of the war that had been on the minds of all gemkind for decades. The Pearl had heard endlessly about it, from descriptions of a rogue quartz gem striking down a diamond?? To this same gem threatening to do the same to Blue Diamond. A non-utility fusion? She wasn’t sure what to believe about the whole affair. As the ship landed on the green surface of the planet, pillars of smoke were visible and the sounds of clashing weapons could be heard from far away. A vicious battle was ensuing, Onyx left the ship with The Pearl following close behind. Onyx walked into a small tent where a couple of different colored Quartzes were arguing about what to do next

“And _what_ exactly is going on here!” The voice of Onyx filled the area as the quarreling quartzes snapped to attention. 

“My agate!” they all said in unison, accompanied by a salute. The blue quartz with a gem covering her left eye was the first to speak… “Rose Quartz has been attacking our base with her rebel army for the last few cycles on this planet, many gems have poofed, and some have shattered.”

“And _why_ haven’t they been recovered from the battlefield,” Onyx shouted, “we cannot allow any more gems to be seduced to the rebel cause! Rose Quartz's army grows by the day, and it's bad enough to have to send you half-baked pebbles into battle, we can’t stretch ourselves much thinner than we already have.

“That’s suicide!! M-my Agate, ma’am,” the red gem blurted out. “I...I mean, the Renegade is here. 

“*gasp* The _Renegade_ hahahahahaha, you’re trying to tell me that _a Pearl_ is the one that is causing all you _big, strong_ gems such trouble, haha!! Well, if _a Pearl_ is giving you such trouble, then why don’t I give you _my pearl_ , surely then the tides would turn in your favor!” Onyx slapped The Pearl hard on the square of her back, pushing her into the chest of the blue quartz nearby. “Now! I _order you_ to get those worthless gems back here, or else!” With the crack of the whip, the four quartzes nearby sprung into action, nearly dragging The Pearl into battle. 

The quartzes said nothing to The Pearl as they waited behind a large bush for night to fall, when all of the Rebel troops had gone back to their base. The Pearl timidly followed the quartzes to the middle of the battlefield where their fallen comrades were located, she often ran into the backs of the quartzes when they stopped suddenly to pick up the gems on the ground. After a few minutes the green quartz shouted, “I think that’s all of them! We’d better head back to base before the Renegade catches us!” All this talk of The Renegade confused The Pearl to no end, she asked herself what kind of gem, what kind of _Pearl_ no less, could make these huge quartzes shake as they moved forward. Just as the thought crossed her mind, a gust of wind blew past The Pearl as a shadowy figure ran behind the green quartz, a gasp of pain could be heard from the quartz as her form disappeared from view. The Pearl ran behind a nearby rock and tried her best to not be seen, but it clearly did not work. The figure stared at The Pearl and began to move slightly forward. As the figure approached, the gleam of the moonlight on the figure showed peach hair, ivory skin, and two swords, one in either hand. The Pearl recognized herself in the figure, surely this was the Pearl that the quartzes spoke of earlier. As The Pearl backed away in fear, the Renegade put her swords into the gem on her forehead and stretched out her hand. “There’s no need to be afraid, I’m a Pearl, just like you. I can take you with me!” As The Pearl reached out to take the Renegade’s hand. The trees above her began to shake, and with a loud thud, the blue quartz landed in front of the Renegade, who had jumped back to dodge the slamming attack that came from the quartz’ club, a similar blue to the rest of her. 

As the quartz continued to slam her club down on the ground, the Renegade was able to leap out of the way of every strike, and while she was distracted, The Pearl was suddenly picked up by the red quartz who began to run in the opposite direction. Seeing this, the blue quartz yelled out “Don’t leave me alo…” her pleas were cut short by the blade of the renegade, who opened out her hand and caught the falling gem. From the position The Pearl was being held, she could see the Renegade meet her gaze and then leap into a tree nearby.

The larger gem ran, with the smaller gem held in her arms like a piece of building materials would be held by a bismuth. The image of the Renegade offering her hand was almost like a fantasy, some part of her hated the blue quartz for interrupting that moment, she had freedom in her grasp, but now it was back to normal, being dragged around by a gem who would sooner shatter The Pearl before showing even the smallest kindness. 

The two gems had returned to the encampment to find Onyx, waiting and angry. “My agate we…” In a split second, the larger gem was caught in the black whip of the agate, and as the electricity surged through the whip, the larger quartz dropped The Pearl as she cried out in pain. After a minute of this Onyx released the quartz from her grasp and began to interrogate the larger gem punctuating each sentence with a quick lash of her whip. “How in the name of White Diamond, did you come back to me with _fewer_ gems than you started with! *crack* I can not go back to her with a report like this! *crack* She’ll have me shattered for this! *crack* and defeated by a pearl no less! *crack* Imagine what Pryope will say!” After this, the quartz’s form disappeared leaving a cracked red gem on the ground. Fuming, the agate shifted her vision to The Pearl on the ground, “Stop staring at me like that! You think _you_ have any room to judge _ME!_ ” Onyx struck The Pearl multiple times with her whip. “why do I even bother with you, I never even wanted a Pearl! But it was an honor from White Diamond herself, so I’m stuck with you! We’re leaving!” And with that Onyx stormed onto the ship, The Pearl using what little remained of her strength to stand back up and follow her. As she stood up and began to walk she noticed a sword that was left in the encampment. Remembering the swords the Renegade carried, The Pearl picked it up and put it in the gem on her chest. This would be the last time Onyx hurt her, and soon, she said to herself, Onyx would never be able to hurt anyone ever again.

During the voyage back, The Pearl thought about the Renegade, and the feelings of terror that she inspired in the hearts of even the strongest of gems, her agate was no different. The Pearl thought constantly of cutting Onyx in half with the sword she had picked up, but decided that it wasn’t worth getting shattered over. The Renegade wouldn’t be nearly as terrifying if she had been shattered during that fateful encounter with Blue Diamond...no, she thought, Onyx must be made to feel fear, The Pearl wanted Onyx to beg for her kindness, and so she thought of ways to make the agate feel the pain that The Pearl had felt over the centuries, and maybe cause some trouble doing so. 


	2. Chapter 2 - The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Pearl puts her plan into motion

During the long voyage back, Onyx Agate said little, besides for some grumblings about White Diamond, and how Pyrope would never let her hear the end of it. The Pearl waited in the back of the ship, occasionally looking at the sword she took from the battlefield when Onyx wasn’t looking. The Pearl pondered ways to make Onyx pay for what she had done to her and the quartz back on the planet that they had just left. She doubted that she would be able to take on Onyx in one on one combat, she would be shattered! Onyx very rarely did work in her chambers, preferring to work in another location that The Pearl had never seen, that may be the perfect place for a sneak attack, but first, The Pearl would have to find out where this special location was. The Pearl had no friends, but there was someone that she could ask.

As the two gems returned to Homeworld, Onyx stormed to her chambers nearly dragging The Pearl by the arm, as they returned to Onyx’s quarters, the agate threw The Pearl against the nearest wall and began to storm furiously around the room, muttering about a meeting with White Diamond, after a long while of this, Onyx stormed out of the room, The Pearl collected herself and began to follow, as was the norm, but as she approached Onyx hit her away from her shouting, “You. Stay. Here!” and the door closed behind her. The Pearl rubbed her cheek and stumbled onto a nearby couch, after a few minutes regaining her composure, she made her way to the back of the room and crouched down, knocking the back of her hand on the wall closest to her. 

A very small panel opened up on the spot where The Pearl knocked, soon after a very small, grey oval peaked up over the side. “I..is she gone?” the figure whimpered. 

The Pearl whispered “Yes, she’s gone” and extended her hand for the tiny pebble to walk onto. The small creature wearing a tiny orange dress walked onto The Pearl’s hand, as The Pearl spoke, “I need you to do a favor for me...I know we haven’t spoken much, and what I ask may be quite dangerous” 

What can I do?” the pebble said, looking at The Pearl with some apprehension.

The Pearl continued, “I need you to follow my agate around for a cycle or two, just to see where she goes when I’m not with her.” 

“WHAT!” the pebble cried out, “why would you want me to do that? Do you know what could happen if I was found out!” 

“I know, I know,” said The Pearl, “but you pebbles are small enough that it would be harder to get noticed... I know what I ask of you is dangerous, but trust me, I need this information to...get rid of her.” 

The pebble stared at The Pearl, mouth agape, “what do you mean ‘get rid of her’, do you mean like... _shatter her?_ ” The Pearl nodded as she set the pebble down back on the open compartment, she then reached into her gem and slowly pulled out the sword. “If you do this for me I can assure you, Onyx Agate will never hurt anyone ever again” As The Pearl put the sword back into her gem, the pebble spoke up, “I’ll do it.”

For the next few cycles, the pebble would follow Onyx around and give The Pearl regular updates on her whereabouts, and when The Pearl felt that she was ready, it was time to put her plan into motion. The first step would be to place blame on someone else. Since the two of them came back to Homeworld, tensions between Onyx and Pyrope had gotten to an all-time high, the two of them snapping at each other more regularly. Most of the other higher-ups knew to stay far away from the two of them in case it came to blows, which was a situation that The Pearl had hoped to cause as soon as possible.

It had become time for one of the higher up gems to have their regular meeting, and Onyx wished to be the first one present at this meeting, but as she and The Pearl made their way into the meeting chamber, they saw the smug figure of Pyrope sitting in her seat, with her boots up on the table. The orange gem said smugly, “well well Onyx, how _nice_ of you to show up”

“I wish I could say the same Pyrope” Onyx snapped. 

“Temper temper” responded Pyrope, “what would White Diamond say? It’s not like you can afford to make any more mistakes,” Onyx growled and took her seat, opposite Pyrope, and waited for the other gems to arrive. The meeting went on without incident, aside from a few smirks towards Onyx whenever Rose Quartz was mentioned, the two high ranking gems didn’t argue. Once the meeting was over, however, was a different story. Onyx, as usual, was the last to leave the meeting room.

As she and The Pearl left the room Pyrope was waiting outside. Pyrope threw a few insults as Onyx walked away, her fists clenched. As Pyrope turned away and began to laugh, The Pearl took a small marble shaped object from her gem and threw it in Pyrope’s direction. As the object flew it hit its target in the back of the head. As this happened, Pyrope shouted across the crowded corridor “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ONYX” and flew across the hallway, pinning Onyx to the wall by her throat. 

Onyx was able to sputter out, “what is the meaning of this Pyrope!” The orange gem spat back, “you think you can strike me and get away with it!” “you’ve lost it this time Pyrope,” said Onyx. 

Pyrope shouted, “you’re lucky that White Diamond values you, if that wasn’t the case, I’d shatter you right here!” Pyrope let the agate go, seeing that she was being watched, “you’d better watch yourself Onyx, I will not forget this” and stormed off. 

As Onyx walked away, confused, The Pearl stifled a laugh, everything was going as she had intended. However, this was the easy part of the plan, the hard part was coming up sooner than The Pearl could have imagined.

A few cycles after the confrontation, Onyx Agate kept to herself much more fervently than usual, whether it was to perfect a new strategy for the war or ways to put Pyrope in her place. Of course, she didn’t tell The Pearl anything about it. In addition to her growing uneasiness around her chambers, her tolerance became much lower than usual. 

Onyx’s punishments became more frequent and painful. One day when The Pearl was late to come to her call, Onyx whipped her almost to the point of poofing, telling her again that she never wanted a pearl, and that The Pearl was only around so as not to offend White Diamond. The agate had become even more of a menace in the cycles past, and this only exacerbated The Pearl’s willingness to do what she had planned to do. Onyx had told the Pearl that she would be in her “private quarters” for the next few cycles and she was not to be bothered. “As you wish my Agate,” said the pearl while saluting. Onyx left the room in a huff, The Pearl waiting back as ordered. Once the door closed, The Pearl decided to put her plan into action.

Acting off of the pebble’s instructions, The Pearl used her pale form to blend into the walls in White Diamond’s castle. She took great care to hide from any approaching gems, using her color and her status as a pearl to her advantage. After a while, she was able to make it to the chamber that the pebble saw Onyx enter cycle after cycle. The question was of course, how to get in. Next to the door was a small sensor with a keypad on it, something that the pebble neglected to mention to The Pearl. Thinking quickly, The Pearl knocked with authority on the door, hoping to coax Onyx out of it. After the knocking, The Pearl hid near a wall and waited. It didn’t take long for Onyx to poke her head out of the door and say “what do you want? Who’s there??” Onyx grumbled, and looked around the halls, after seeing no one, she muttered curses to herself and went back inside. 

The Pearl quickly sprinted through the door, just as it was about to close. The room inside was dark and lit by dim fixtures around the room. The Pearl looked around and saw Onyx, sitting and facing a few lit screens covered in glyphs, The Pearl could barely see, but could barely make out some words relating to battles. Around the room, there were a few tables, but not much room to hide. The Pearl would have to do it quickly. 

She pulled the sword out of her gem and began to approach Onyx slowly. The pearl brought the sword up over her head and brought it down on Onyx, followed by a resounding _poof_. Onyx’s form dissipated and her marble gem fell onto the chair where she was sitting. The Pearl picked up the gem, and in a moment of clarity, threw it on the ground and beat it into fragments with her sword. The Pearl took a few of the fragments with her, as a memento of sorts, as well as for the next part of her plan.

Onyx’s shattering was the talk of the entire court. A pure white agate had come to her chambers to check on her after she missed a few meetings. The Pearl had told her that Onyx had gone to her private chambers a few cycles ago and that she hadn’t seen her since. That same agate had returned later that cycle, with the broken shards of the agate in her hands. There were whispers all around White Diamond’s court about, how it was done. A few popular theories revolved around Onyx shattering herself, while others hypothesized that Onyx was too self-absorbed to do it herself and that another player was involved. 

Normally, when a gem is shattered, not many gave it a second thought. Low ranking gems were shattered all the time. But Onyx Agate was a big deal, one of the few gems to speak to White Diamond herself, and the reclusive Diamond wanted answers, so the inspector known as Bloodstone was put on the case. Bloodstone was a renowned individual in White’s court, well known for her inquisitory skills. A rather haughty individual her form consisted of a short crop of hair and a monitor that was always in front of her right eye. This monitor was able to tell her a lot about a place just by looking, and not much escaped her. The first thing she did when she returned from off-world, was asked about Onyx’s Pearl and was promptly led to the shattered agate’s chambers. In the few cycles that followed Onyx’s shattering. The Pearl took on a different form in order to put on an act of sorrow and mourning. Her tight bun was replaced with flowing hair that cascaded down her back reaching around knee length. Her white garb was changed to black, with leggings that stretched from her feet to her knees, and a small leotard like form on her chest. She had covered her face with a translucent black veil and stood in the back of the room when Bloodstone arrived.

The tall gem arrived in the room and without meeting The Pearl in the eyes spoke up, “you must be the shattered’s Pearl hmmm? I understand that you will be sent back to the reef to be rejuvenated and given to another gem, but until then, you are to help me with my investigations, understood? Good, let us get to business, shall we? What were you doing when Onyx Agate was shattered?”

The Pearl responded softly, “I was waiting here for her to return, as I was ordered to” 

Bloodstone responded, “yes, good, a good and obedient pearl then yes? Good. As it should be. Have you any clue as to what occurred?” 

The Pearl replied, “I have no idea, I was told that she was...gone, when another agate from White Diamond’s court, came looking for her.” 

“In a similar train of thought, I have assembled the high ranking gems of the court to meet for a few questions, I will ask you a few questions about them, and afterward you will remain outside of the chambers until I come and get you,” said Bloodstone

“Understood?” The Pearl nodded solemnly, “yes, I understand.”

A few hours later, Bloodstone and The Pearl entered the meeting room, Bloodstone was the first to speak, “now pearl, how would you say that Onyx was received with the rest of the group? Be honest now, say whatever comes to mind.” The Pearl spoke, “My agate was...less than friendly with the majority of her peers, but was highly respected.” “I see,” said Bloodstone, “now wait here like a good pearl while I ask some questions.” 

Bloodstone surveyed the room filled with agates of all types, some looking more apathetic than others, Pyrope herself seemed very inconvenienced from having to be in attendance. Bloodstone spoke to a red agate first. “Now, Cherry, is it not? I have a few questions for you about the group here as a whole regarding the shattered gem known as Onyx Agate. First, did you all have an antagonistic relationship with this gem, please, be honest, as it does not benefit you to lie.”

Cherry responded, “well, to be quite honest, we didn’t really like her very much, but she was well respected, none of us would have wanted to...shatter her.” 

Bloodstone responded, “well, that’s quite alright, you are not expected to _like_ everyone here, most certainly not. So it is your contention that none of you wished harm upon her?”

“Well...actually,” said a yellow agate quietly, as she started to continue, Pyrope shot her a glance that shut her mouth quite quickly. Bloodstone quickly took notice of this, and walked behind the yellow agate slowly, “please, I would quite like you to finish your thought, after all, you are in no danger here.” 

The yellow gem spit out, “w...well a few cycles ago, Onyx and Pyrope had a bit of a...dissagreement.”

Pyrope replied, “that’s ridiculous, I would never inflict harm upon her! This gem is a liar inspector!” 

The yellow agate blurted out, “you said you would shatter her! I heard you myself, we all heard you!” 

“Is this true?” said Bloodstone glancing around the room, all the gems in attendance nodded solemnly. Bloodstone continued, “I see...well I would very much like to have a look around your chambers Pyrope...you know...just to be thorough?” 

Pyrope scoffed, “feel free to have a look around inspector, if only to see what liars these others are, in fact, I will help you out, make sure you see every nook and cranny, I assure you, you won’t find anything.” 

“Forgive me, Pyrope if I am not one to believe your _assurances_ , but I am more than willing to accompany you, you will be within my sight at all times, understood?” 

“Lead the way!” said Pyrope. As the two gems walked out of the conference room. The Pearl was standing outside, right in the spot that Bloodstone left her. 

“Please follow me, Pearl, we have one more spot to go.” 

Pyrope looked at The Pearl, confused. “Is that Onyx’s Pearl?? What is she doing here?” 

Bloodstone spoke back, “she is a key part of my investigation. Now let us not dwell too long on it, we have searching to do.”

As the three gems made their way to Pyrope’s chambers, nothing was said between the three of them. Bloodstone took a brisk lead, with Pyrope following right behind her, and The Pearl a short distance away. The Pearl’s next part of the plan was about to be put into action. It was exciting for The Pearl in a way, not that she had any real gripe with Pyrope, it was only to put suspicion away from herself. What was one more high ranking gem shattered in the grand scheme of things?

Pyrope’s chambers were rather drab, with no real decorations to speak of, only a desk in the middle of the room and a few compartments along the wall. Pyrope and Bloodstone were looking around the desk for any clues, The Pearl walked to one of the closed compartments, and, while the two other gems were distracted casually threw some of Onyx’s shards into a compartment and closed it before walking over to the doorway and standing still as a statue. After a while of Bloodstone looking around the desk, Pyrope spoke up,

“Do you think you looked through the desk long enough?” 

Bloodstone replied, “Let us not be too hasty, these things take time, and plus, we haven’t checked through all of those compartments on your wall.” 

Pyrope scoffed, “by all means, I don’t have all day, there are other things that I would like to do than listen to a clod like you prattle on forever.” 

“Alright,” said an exasperated Bloodstone, let us take a look shall we?” As Bloodstone took a look through all of the compartments, she found nothing of import. 

Pyrope spoke up once more, “I told you, liars, all of them” she continued on about how innocent she was, and how she was going to punish the other agates, Bloodstone opened up the last compartment, The Pearl could see the look of shock forming on the gem’s face. Bloodstone then spoke into the device on her eye and turned to face Pyrope with her hand closed. 

“Pyrope, would you like to come over here and tell me what these are? A battle trophy perhaps?” Pyrope walked over to Bloodstone, 

“A battle trophy, why would I… n..no no no NO! I...I didn’t put those there I swear!” 

Bloodstone shot back, “and what...they were put here by accident, a pebble put them there? What. Praytell, would you have me believe?” Just as Pyrope opened her mouth to respond, two topaz guards entered the room, with their weapons drawn. At this sight, Bloodstone said curtly, “please, follow us, White Diamond may have a few questions for her. As the topazes fused together leaving only Pyropes head visible in the mass of Topaz, as Bloodstone left the room, followed by the topaz fusion. Pyrope continued to declare her innocence as they left. The Pearl was last to leave the room, flashing Pyrope a devious smile. 

Pyrope’s eyes widened as she was lead away “It was the pearl! The pearl set me up!” 

Bloodstone chortled, “A pearl? That’s the excuse? They are only good for standing there and looking pretty, they couldn’t take on an agate! That reminds me, Pearl? Please wait in Onyx’s chambers, someone will be sent to escort you back to the reef.” Bloodstone laughed again at Pyrope’s statement as the gems walked off, Pyrope screaming about being set up filled the corridors.

As The Pearl went back to Onyx’s chambers, she once again made her way to the back wall and knocked on it, as the wall opened up, the pebble peaked out of the hole, “stars! I can’t believe you did it!” 

The Pearl responded, “I came to thank you, and ask your services once more.” 

“Whatever you need, just ask!” 

“I need to leave the castle before I’m taken back to the reef, do you know of any secret ways out that I could use?” 

The pebble thought for a moment and said, I am aware of a secret passage that is blocked by one of the wall gems that fill the castle, if you ask one of them, I’m sure they will grant you access.” 

The Pearl smiled, “thank you, my friend.” and kissed the pebble on the top of the head before running out of the chambers, to make her way to one of the walls. 

When she approached one of the wall shaped gems, she asked them about the passage that the pebble spoke of, one of them moved forward to reveal a hole in the wall that The Pearl walked into. She thanked the kind gem and walked down many stairs that seemed to last an eternity, at the bottom was a maze of tunnels and caverns, The Pearl picked one at random and made her way inside. 

As she made her way through the tunnels, shining light from her gem as she made her way through this maze, some holes from kindergartens past could be seen throughout the walls. The Pearl regarded them with awe but kept listening for the sounds of other gems throughout these tunnels, but heard nothing for a long time until hearing the shuffling of footsteps. Thinking quickly, The Pearl pulled out the sword from her gem and pointed it at the sound of these footsteps. 

A meek voice rang out from the same direction, “please, please I mean no harm, I’m just a pearl, on the run like you are.” 

The Pearl put down the sword slowly, “who are you running from?” 

“my owner, a quartz soldier, I nearly escaped without being shattered, what about you.” 

“I shattered my agate and ran to avoid being sent back to the reef.” The light green pearl grasped The Pearl’s hands together, looking upon her with stars in her eyes. 

“You shattered your owner? That’s amazing, I wish I had the courage to do that.” The Pearl looked at the smaller pearl and found herself face to face with an idea, one that made a whole lot more sense than running her whole life.

“I might be able to help you out with that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once again to florentike for beta reading this chapter

**Author's Note:**

> Thank You to @florentike for beta-ing this fic for me


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